Mr. Ahmad Amin FATHALLA (Egypt)
Date and place of birth: 25 November 1952, Cairo, Egypt Working languages: French, English, Arabic Current position/function
Ambassador of Egypt to the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Governor of Egypt to the Common Fund for Commodities and representative of Egypt to the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Court, the Permanent Court of Arbitration and the Hague Conference on Private International Law.
Main professional activities
On home postings he worked mainly in the legal department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs until he became Deputy Assistant Minister for Legal Affairs and then Assistant Minister for Multilateral Relations responsible for all United Nations matters. One of his main tasks was the preparation of Egypt’s reports to all United Nations and human rights bodies, as well as lectures and presentations on United Nations matters. He served in the Permanent Missions of Egypt in New York (Sixth Committee) and Geneva (Human Rights). He was a member of the Egyptian team for the Taba Arbitration. He represented Egypt in many United Nations legal forums and assumed the post of either chairman or vice-chairman of a number of committees or working groups of these United Nations bodies.
Issues: ECOSOC Charter, non-use of force, rights of the child, migrant workers corruption, disarmament etc.;
chaired a number of Egyptian National Committees (ICC, law of the sea, etc.). He was a member of the Legislative Committee of the Egyptian Council for Motherhood and Childhood. He worked as the legal adviser for the Basel Convention (drafted the basic legal documents and provided legal assistance to the parties). He served as Ambassador of Egypt to Morocco and Turkey.
Educational background
• Attended “Jésuites” school (French Language School) in Cairo (1958-1970)
• BA in Law, Cairo University, 1974
• Diploma in International Relations, Institut International d’Administration Public Paris, 1987 Other main activities in the field relevant to the mandate of the treaty body concerned
When he was serving at the legal department he was responsible for the preparation of the two reports submitted by Egypt in 1984 and 2001 in accordance with article 40 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
He was responsible for the promotion of the obligations of the Covenant in different national authorities responsible for the implementation of the Covenant (Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Interior, etc.).
He was also responsible for the promotion of the rights and obligations stipulated in the Covenant through lectures and presentations delivered at several national institutions like the Egyptian Diplomatic Institute.
List of most recent publications in the field
He made a number of presentations which were published on different websites of international institutions. The latest was a presentation made in the Hague Forum for Judicial Expertise on 3 October 2007 entitled “The
development and extension of international law: a need for a balanced approach”. It was published in the form of a legal article on the website of The Hague Forum.
